Mg. Packard et al., STRIA TERMINALIS LESIONS ATTENUATE MEMORY ENHANCEMENT PRODUCED BY INTRACAUDATE NUCLEUS INJECTIONS OF OXOTREMORINE, Neurobiology of learning and memory, 65(3), 1996, pp. 278-282
The present study examined the role of the stria terminalis in modulat
ing the memory enhancement produced by posttraining intracaudate nucle
us injection of oxotremorine. Male Sprague-Dawley rats with either sha
m operations or bilateral lesions of the stria terminalis (ST) were tr
ained on a one-trial inhibitory-avoidance task and received a unilater
al posttraining intracaudate injection of either a buffer vehicle or t
he cholinergic agonist-oxotremorine (0.3 mu g/0.5 mu l) into a medial
region of the caudate nucleus innervated by the ST. Intracaudate injec
tion of oxotremorine improved memory in sham-operated rats. Although S
T lesions did not affect retention in rats given intracaudate injectio
ns of the buffer vehicle, ST lesions attenuated the memory enhancement
produced by posttraining intracaudate injection of oxotremorine. In v
iew of anatomical evidence indicating that amygdalostriatal projection
s are nonreciprocol, the present findings suggest that amygdala output
via the ST is essential for memory enhancement produced by intracauda
te injection of oxotremorine. (C) 1996 Academic Press, Inc.